“All the same, there is a difficulty. I should like him to be happy in heaven here,
But he cannot come by wishing. Only by being already at home here.”

—  Stevie Smith

"God Speaks"
Selected Poems (1962)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "All the same, there is a difficulty. I should like him to be happy in heaven here, But he cannot come by wishing. Only…" by Stevie Smith?
Stevie Smith photo
Stevie Smith 18
poet, novelist, illustrator, performer 1902–1971

Related quotes

Colum McCann photo

“With all respects to heaven, I like it here.”

Source: Let the Great World Spin

Jean Paul photo

“The wish falls often warm upon my heart that I may learn nothing here that I cannot continue in the other world; that I may do nothing here but deeds that will bear fruit in heaven.”

Jean Paul (1763–1825) German novelist

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 366.

Geoff Dyer photo

“I should have been happy—I was being paid to be here—but happiness does not respond to that kind of imperative; it is no good telling yourself you should be happy.”

Geoff Dyer (1958) English writer

Source: Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It (1993), p. 225

“Heaven is home. Utopia is here. Nirvana is now.”

Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist

Abbey's Road (1979)

Robert G. Ingersoll photo

“It has always seemed a little curious to me that joy should be held in such contempt here, and yet promised hereafter as an eternal reward. Why not be happy here, as well as in heaven. Why not have joy here?”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

"The Brooklyn Divines." Brooklyn Union (Brooklyn, NY), 1883.
Context: It has always seemed a little curious to me that joy should be held in such contempt here, and yet promised hereafter as an eternal reward. Why not be happy here, as well as in heaven. Why not have joy here? Why not go to heaven now—that is, to-day? Why not enjoy the sunshine of this world, and all there is of good in it? It is bad enough; so bad that I do not believe it was ever created by a beneficent deity; but what little good there is in it, why not have it?

Kate Bush photo

“I should have been home
Hours ago,
But I'm not here.
But I'm not here…”

Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer

Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985), The Ninth Wave

Malcolm Muggeridge photo

“The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realise, is to feel ourselves to be at home here on earth.”

Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990) English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist

Chapter 1, Jesus Rediscovered (1969)

Gloria Estefan photo

“However long we live here, however much I feel at home in Miami, I -- like everyone else -- am an exile, an exile who cannot go home.”

Gloria Estefan (1957) Cuban-American singer-songwriter, actress and divorciada

cubanet.org (May 15, 2000)
2007, 2008

Jack Johnson (musician) photo
İsmail Enver photo

“How can we furnish bread to the Armenians when we can't get enough for our own people? I know that they are suffering and that it is quite likely that they cannot get bread at all this coming winter. But we have the utmost difficulty in getting flour and clothing right here in Constantinople.”

İsmail Enver (1881–1922) Turkish military officer and a leader of the Young Turk revolution

Quoted in "The Armenians, from Genocide to Resistance: From Genocide to Resistance" - Page 82 - by Gérard Chaliand, Yves Ternon - Social Science – 1983.

Related topics